The worldwide stock market slump, which has seen US tech shares fall by two-thirds and sent UK stocks to seven-year lows, threatens the future of globalisation, billionaire financier George Soros has said.

George Soros: Global economic system "flawed"

Mr Soros said that 20 years of strong capital flows, backed by rising stock markets, had hidden "deficiencies" within countries' financial systems.

"A rising tide lifts all boats," he told BBC News Online, after a debate at the World Economic Forum's annual summit in Davos, Switzerland.

But the current "ebbing tide" on stock markets was exposing flaws, and isolating weaker countries.